UM-Rolla paper threatens lawsuit

By Jaryd Wilson

Published Feb. 16, 2007

Members of the UM-Rolla student newspaper, The Missouri Miner, plan to file a lawsuit against the school in response to the newspaper's $12,500 budget cut for the upcoming school year.

Members said the Student Activities Finance Board violated First Amendment rights when it proposed cuts that were passed by the UMR Student Council Nov. 7.

Members of The Missouri Miner said they will file the lawsuit Monday and ask for full reinstatement if the UM system Board of Curators does not reinstate the funds.

Chris Stryker, The Missouri Miner editor in chief, said they want all of their funds back and won't settle.

"I don't see any compromise happening right now," Stryker said. "I think it's pretty clear that this issue isn't going to be resolved."

The issue arose when the finance board proposed to cut funding at an open forum on Oct. 24.

But Michele Martin, former editor in chief for The Missouri Miner, said members were not informed of exactly how much was going to be cut in a timely manner.

More than half of the paper's $56,000 budget comes from student activity fees.

"If we had more time to defend ourselves, we might not have been cut," Martin said.

Stryker said The Missouri Miner had a meeting with Student Affairs Vice Chancellor Debra Robinson following the passage of the budget cut to try to work out a compromise, but nothing was resolved.

"Student Affairs wanted us to make some changes such as reducing the opinions and holding our writers accountable for mistakes," Stryker said. "It became clear there was not going to be a resolution."

Grammatical errors in the Miner were another reason for the cut, according to Stryker.

"I'll be the first to admit we aren't perfect," Stryker said. "But there are a lot of ways to help us get better, like training and such. Cutting our budget doesn't help."

Martin said opinions and controversial material are important for students to see, and the newspaper addresses those issues.

"I don't think people understand the First Amendment and the freedom of the press law," Stryker said. "It often gets misunderstood, and it's something we need to make readers more aware of."

UMR officials could not comment on the issue because of the potential lawsuit.

Director of Communications Andy Careaga submitted a news release stating that UMR recognizes and supports organizations' constitutional rights.

"Neither the UMR administration nor student council has censored the content of the Missouri Miner," Careaga stated in the release.

Board Chairman Jerel Bernasek said in a previous interview that content was not a factor when the board proposed the budget cut.

"The Missouri Miner's funding was never cut due to the content of the articles published," Bernasek said.

The Missouri Miner was given a recommendation to cut writers' salaries as a way to reduce the spending, but Stryker said salaries are needed to keep most of the writers.

"This is an engineering and technology school, and there are no journalism majors here," Stryker said. "It's hard to find good writers, and although our writers enjoy writing and want to make a difference, no salaries would drive a lot of them away."